EXCLUSIVE: "Male teachers who were pregnant" - PPTA

The PPTA Conference 2024 is happening this week. And as expected, there’s some wacky things being suggested – especially around identity politics and gender ideology.

The PPTA Te Wehengarua Annual Conference 2024 is happening this week.

There were two conference papers that grabbed our attention.

One was entitled:

Encouraging Rainbow Community Liaisons – from the Wellington and Hutt Valley regions or branches of the PPTA

And the other was:

Constitutional Amendment: Amending Gendered Pronouns – from the Waitaha-Canterbury region.

Let’s have a look at this 2^nd one first. They say

This paper moves to address an issue which has gone under the radar.

At Annual Conference 2017, the paper Affirming Diversity: Inclusion for Sexuality and Gender Minorities was voted and approved.1 Recommendation 5 stated:

“That the executive consider a claim for the 2018 STCA [collective agreements] round to eliminate gender biased language in STCA section, 6.3 Parental Provisions and subsequent to this a similar claim in section 5.2 in the ASTCA.”

The reason for that recommendation was that the language in the provisions allowed only female teachers to access those parental entitlements.

Um – that’s because it’s the female that gets pregnant. You know – biology.

It did not recognise male-identifying teachers who were adopting, nor those male-teachers who were pregnant.

Wait! What? Male-teachers who were pregnant.

What kind of biology are they teaching these days? Is this why home schooling is looking real popular.

I don’t know what happens in the schools in Canterbury – but if men are getting pregnant, there might be something not quite right eh.

If you can show me a male who is pregnant, I’ll buy you a bridge.

They were not inclusive provisions in our collective agreements; they did not align with our values. The language was changed, and the current collective agreement refers to “teacher”.

…. , a binary approach to gender is not inclusive and other options need to be presented so that every person feels emotionally and physically safe. The notion of choice aligns with other causes, such as cultural expressions of identity that can be repressed by uniform. Gender neutrality is all about providing the options so that all young people feel included and safe.”

This shows that as a union we fight to eliminate gender biased language within our employment agreements and advocate for these changes for the young people in our kura and communities.

So what do they basically want to do?

Every part of the Constitution is to be changed so that rather than saying, for example,

9. A member shall cease to be such: (i) If she/he shall cease to be a teacher or tutor or ceases to be eligible for membership in terms of Rules 5 or 6 hereof and shall cease to pay her/his subscription provided that where a member has been dismissed and appeals against that dismissal she/he shall be eligible to retain membership pending the determination of the appeal.

It will be changed to: (i) If they shall cease to be a teacher or tutor or ceases to be eligible for membership in terms of Rules 5 or 6 hereof and shall cease to pay their subscription provided that where a member has been dismissed and appeals against that dismissal they shall be eligible to retain membership pending the determination of the appeal.

Feel better? Less triggered?

They then ask – why have a gender-neutral constitution? Very good question.

Inclusivity.

There are no positions within the PPTA that require a certain gender….,

…except for women’s representatives.

Oooops. OK – lets just skip that one.

the language in the Constitution, as it currently stands, implicitly excludes those members who do not identify with he/she pronouns. …it reinforces the alienation of our Rainbow Whānau. This is not who we are as an association.

But what if you don’t identify with they/them. What about people with ir/eir or ze/zir or tim/tam or hu/hu. You’ll still excluding them? Sorry – zir.

Under the heading “Clarity and accessibility”, they say

When reading the Constitution, it is tiring to read “he/she” all the time. It is simply awkward writing and uses gender when it is not relevant. Gender neutral language is precise, it encompasses all individuals, providing clarity in communication.

It includes thems – but not eirs, zirs, tams, or hus.

So basically they want to ban he/she his/hers because its so exclusionary and tiring.

Under the heading “Modernisation”,

Our society has evolved significantly in its understanding of gender.(!) We recognise that non-binary people exist, and that they should be included in our society. PPTA has recognised this with the establishment of the Rainbow network, the Safer Schools for All workshops, and advocacy around proposed changes to the Relationships and Sexuality Education guidelines.

Yep – so it’s some radical teachers who are pushing the RSE curriculum.

They then ask “Are there issues making our constitution gender-neutral”?

Well, thanks for asking. How about – ignoring biology, buying into flawed gender ideology, confusing young people, being wacky…

But they say

There are minimal issues… In fact, gender neutral legal drafting is fast becoming the norm amongst the English speaking world

Yeah - ir/eir or ze/zir or tim/tam or hu/hu are real English words eh

Here’s the best bit.

On International Women’s Day 2007, it was announced that all UK government legal drafting would be gender neutral.

International “women’s” day.

Bet they can’t define what a woman is eh.

Now I had a quick check of the Constitution. I was very very excited that it would be gender-free and non-binary.

But I found this

S15(1) Each Branch shall elect annually a Chairperson a Branch Secretary a Women’s Contact (who shall be a woman if possible) and such other Officers as it deems fit.

S26 The Regional Organisation shall hold its Annual Meeting before the fifteenth day of March each year. Before the end of the preceding Association year each region shall elect its Chairperson, Regional Secretary, Treasurer, Te Reo a Rohe, an Establishing Teachers’ Representative and Women’s Coordinator (who shall be a woman),

S27 The Committee of the Regional Organisation shall consist of a Chairperson, a Regional Secretary, a Treasurer, a Women’s Coordinator (who shall be a woman),

Yep the words woman and women are in the Constitution in three different sections. How binary.

So the PPTA can’t say gendered words like “woman”, they can’t use gendered words, they can’t even define what a woman is, they can’t be binary, they must be woke – but they’ve got to identify some “women” to fulfil the explicitly “women” roles.

No wonder teachers need 12 weeks holiday and teacher only days.

It’s so exhausting being a member of the PPTA.

Then we come to Encouraging Rainbow Community Liaisons. (You know it’s all downhill from here eh!)

This paper uses the word queer as a reclaimed word to refer to people within the rainbow (LGBTQ+) community.

Reclaimed word from who?

Then it tries to argue that approximately 16% of High School aged students self identify as attracted to the same or multiple genders. Actually, the source of that stat comes from the Youth2000 survey of Auckland University which we’ve discussed many times – and actually says

9% said they were same- or multiple-sex attracted, and 7% said they were not sure of their attractions or not attracted to any sex.

But the PPTA wants to lump those groups all together under the LGBTQIA+++++ banner. It sounds better – even though half of them say that actually they’re not sure or don’t care.

But don’t destroy the narrative eh.

They then say:

To address the challenges faced by Queer Rangatahi, it is essential for schools to have a designated queer liaison person.

To justify this, they say:

In 2023, hate crimes against transgender and gender diverse individuals doubled compared to the previous year

And they point people to this report by Radio NZ

Reports of hate crimes against trans people jump 42%, spike month of Posie Parker visit

Here’s the graph showing that rise.

Hang on – that doesn’t look like a doubling over time. There is that spike though. Big spike. March 2023. What happened in March 2023. Oh, of course, the Posie Parker rally where women gathered to talk about women things, and trans activists assaulted, harassed, punched, and harangued the audience and the international guest speaker – but remember – the transactivists were the victims.

Here’s the other problem whenever you hear the PPTA or anyone like that quoting “hate crimes”. The Police themselves say that their definition of ‘hate crime’ is “any offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated wholly or in part, by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s particular characteristic, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, gender/transgender identity, disability, or age.”

In other words, it’s all based on perception, and victimology.

The other slight problem with what the PPTA are trying to argue is that the latest data shows that almost three-quarters of all hate crime offences reported nationwide since 2020 have been motivated by race or ethnicity. Or at least that’s what the victim perceives.

Perhaps the PPTA should focus on ALL bullying – and ALL bullies. Not just the ones they are particularly obsessed with.

They then have a dig at the Government

In the current political climate, there has been an emboldening of people to voice their negative opinions towards queer people, both online and in person. This has been noticed empirically by multiple people working within queer spaces.

Multiple people. Yep – all three of them.

Currently, many schools rely on the school guidance team to deal with queer issues, largely due to the overlap between being queer, and suffering from potentially traumatic events

That’s kind-of interesting that they admit the connection between being “queer” and mental illness and traumatic events. You mean that there might be underlying causes?

So what do they want?

Recognised roles in which teachers are given release time and financial remuneration to ensure support of queer rangatahi across Aotearoa.

Yep – taxpayer funded. And taken out of the classroom rather than teaching as expected.

This is the preferential system they want given – at a time when families just want their children to be taught – and not indoctrinated.

Phew. That home schooling sounds even more tempting, doesn’t it.

Now please remember that there are thousands of fantastic teachers who want nothing to do with this indoctrinating and simply want to educate.

But there are some PPTA members who do want to indoctrinate. You need to know who they are at your local schools.

And given that some teachers in the PPTA think men can get pregnant, maybe don’t enroll your child in that biology course for their NCEA.

They’re gonna fail. Badly.